# Ps Procurement And Public Funding Navigation > Flags when an AI idea has crossed from 'just build it' into public-procurement or public-funding territory, and what that changes about timeline, vendor choice, and design freedom. Use when scoping or building an AI solution for a public body, before committing to a build-vs-buy path or a delivery timeline. - Skill: `pilot2service/ps-procurement-and-public-funding-navigation` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add pilot2service/ps-procurement-and-public-funding-navigation` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/pilot2service/ps-procurement-and-public-funding-navigation/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: Pilot2Service (https://skillmd.com/u/pilot2service) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/pilot2service/ps-procurement-and-public-funding-navigation --- # Public Procurement and Funding Navigation ## Purpose `ai-strategy-and-governance:build-vs-buy-vs-partner-ai` structures the build/buy/partner decision on its technical and organizational merits. In a public-sector context, that decision is frequently constrained before it's even made: procurement law, budget-cycle timing, and the funding source (municipal budget, national grant, EU funding, a mix) all shape what's actually achievable and by when. This skill is a triage tool: it tells you *when* you've hit one of these constraints and what it changes about the project — it does not give procurement-law advice itself. ## Method ### 1. Identify the funding source first Before scoping technical options, establish: - Is this funded from the organization's own operating budget, a dedicated project/investment budget, a national grant, EU funding, or some combination? - Each source typically comes with its own reporting requirements, eligible-cost rules, and timeline — a solution technically ready in six weeks can still be blocked for months by a funding cycle that only disburses annually, or by reporting obligations tied to how the money was justified. - If the funding involves EU or national grant money, flag explicitly that additional dissemination, reporting, or results-ownership obligations likely apply, and that these need specialist confirmation — don't assume standard commercial terms apply. ### 2. Check the procurement threshold Ask directly (don't estimate from memory): does this organization have a procurement threshold above which a formal competitive tender is legally required, and does this project's value cross it? If unknown or unclear, say so explicitly and flag it as a question for the organization's own procurement or legal function — a wrong assumption here (proceeding as a direct purchase when a tender was actually required) is a serious, not a cosmetic, mistake. ### 3. Know what a formal procurement process changes If a tender is required, this changes the project fundamentally, not just its timeline: - **Timeline**: procurement processes routinely add months, not weeks. Any scoping work should assume this before promising a delivery date. - **Design freedom**: requirements typically have to be locked and published before vendor selection — late-stage design changes are much harder once a tender is live. - **Vendor pool**: some AI vendors, especially smaller or newer ones, may not be structured to bid on public tenders at all, narrowing the realistic option set. - **Documentation burden**: decisions need to be defensible on paper, not just sound in the room — this feeds directly into `ps-decision-readiness-and-public-communication`. ### 4. Consider a pilot or exemption path if the situation allows it Many procurement regimes have lower thresholds or specific exemptions for small-scale pilots, proofs of concept, or innovation partnerships — but whether these apply, and how, is jurisdiction-specific and must be confirmed by the organization's own procurement function, not assumed from general knowledge. Where relevant, this repo's user may have access to a dedicated public-procurement legal skill set — if so, use that for the actual legal analysis and treat this skill's output as the business framing that goes into that conversation, not a replacement for it. ### 5. Translate constraints into the roadmap and business case Once the funding source and procurement path are clear, feed the resulting timeline and design-freedom constraints into `ps-public-value-business-case-framing` and into whatever roadmap or sprint plan is being built — don't let a technically optimistic timeline survive contact with a procurement requirement that wasn't checked early. ## What this skill does NOT do - Doesn't give procurement-law or grant-compliance advice — it flags when specialist advice is needed and what to ask. - Doesn't determine actual legal thresholds, which vary by jurisdiction and organization type — always confirm locally. - Doesn't replace `../../../../ai-strategy-and-governance/skills/build-vs-buy-vs-partner-ai/SKILL.md` — it constrains that decision, it doesn't make it. ## Refinement notes Procurement thresholds and exemption rules are highly jurisdiction- and sector-specific (EU public procurement directives, national implementations, and municipal-level rules all differ). This skill is deliberately written at the level of "what to ask and when it matters" rather than citing specific thresholds, to avoid presenting jurisdiction-specific legal detail as general truth. ## Continue from here - Build/buy/partner decision: `../../../../ai-strategy-and-governance/skills/build-vs-buy-vs-partner-ai/SKILL.md` - Business case with the resulting constraints: `../ps-public-value-business-case-framing/SKILL.md` - Presenting a procurement-shaped decision to the board: `../ps-decision-readiness-and-public-communication/SKILL.md` ## References - `../../references/source-notes.md` --- **Reminder:** frontmatter has only `name` and `description`. Everything else goes into `skills_index.json` (run `scripts/generate_index.py`).